Let Me Be

by BloodRedLust

Rated: M. Please do not read if easily triggered or offended.

Pairing: Klaine

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, or any of these characters. I simply like to torture them for my own sadistic pleasure.

There is kind of a little message to this story... and it's a message of tolerance, and love, and equality... a message which I am pretty sure that all of you people have already learned, if you are willing to read a story about two young boys in love. So I want to say 'welcome aboard', 'hope you enjoy the ride'... and thank you, for being evolved enough to understand that love is a beautiful thing, regardless of gender. Thank you for reading. :)

A special Thank you also for my fabulous beta and beautiful friend MisskaterinaB. You're the Non-fat Mocha to my Medium Drip honey, the McQueen sweater to my Blazer, the Llama to my Dinosaur, the gingham tie to my green suspenders.

At this point, some chapters are beta'd, and some are not. I'm currently in the process of going back through them all to make minor edits and corrections, so please just try to ignore any errors you see along the way, hopefully I'll catch them all as I make my way through the story. :D

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Friday night dinners had been a family tradition in the Hummel household for as long as I could remember. My mom had started them, and my dad had continued with them after she died as a way to keep some familiarity in my life. Now that Carole and Finn were a part of our family, they were something that we continued with as a way to bring the whole family together once a week for some quality time.

My dad and Carole had been married less than a year, but we'd long since adjusted to living together, and had fallen into a comfortable routine in our family life. Our Friday night dinners were all very much the same. Finn and my dad would take up their usual positions in the den, occasionally shouting at the television as they watched football, while Carole and I worked in the kitchen to prepare what were rapidly becoming more exotic meals for the family. We both loved to cook and we worked well together, and I have to admit, I simply loved spending a little time with my new "Smom", as I had affectionately nicknamed her. She was warm and caring and so kind hearted, and I just adored her. As far as I was concerned, my dad couldn't have found a more perfect woman to share his life with.

My story begins one Friday night in early August. Ohio had been suffering for the past week with an uncharacteristic heatwave, but Carole and I hadn't let the temperature in the kitchen deter us from creating our masterpiece.

We'd only just sat down at the dinner table to eat when the doorbell rang. I groaned, staring down at my plate. Visitors at dinnertime really irked me. I hadn't cut my shopping date short with Blaine to spend three hours sweating in the kitchen just so that I would have to eat my dinner cold. Finn grinned at my irritation and bounced to his feet to get the door. I grumbled to myself, then cut a small portion of my Dukkah encrusted pesto chicken and placed it in my mouth. I didn't care that it was rude; it was ruder for someone to interrupt our meal.

But when Finn screamed my name from the entrance hall, I dropped my cutlery to my plate in a heartbeat and raced my Dad and Carole to the door. I'd never heard him so panicked, such alarm and concern in his voice, and as I rounded the corner I could see why. I stopped dead in my tracks, momentarily too shocked to move until I felt my Dad push past me as he ran to the door.

It actually took me a moment to realise it was Blaine; he was so covered in blood he was almost unrecognisable. He was almost doubled over as he clutched his arm to his chest, and when he looked up at me I could clearly see that his nose was broken, one eye was completely swollen shut, and a large gash had split his lip almost down to his chin, which I assumed was the source of all the blood. I heard Carole cry out in surprise when she saw him, and I'm pretty sure I heard her say the word 'ambulance' as she ran back out of the room.

"Blaine? Oh my Goh..." I choked on my words as I ran to his side, wanting desperately to comfort him, but I wasn't sure where it would be safe to touch him without hurting him further. He didn't seem to care, though; his good arm came up and around my body, holding me close as if I were a lifeline. I heard him draw a jagged breath, and then he doubled over again, coughing up blood but refusing to relax his hold on me.

"Jesus Blaine, what happened?" growled my father as he tried to guide Blaine to the nearest chair. "Who did this to you?"

Blaine sank into the chair with an audible grimace of pain and leaned back, closing his eyes. It was then that I saw the blood seeping through his shirt. I knelt at his side and lifted the material away to reveal the source of the blood, and my head swam in shock when I saw the two inch-long stab wounds in his belly.

I'm sure I was actually in shock by then, but somehow I still remember every single detail of what happened that night. Every single, painstaking detail as if it were happening in slow motion.

Carole came back into the room clutching the phone and announced that the ambulance was on its way. She handed me a bunch of hand- towels and face washers, and I immediately pressed one to Blaine's stomach to try to slow the bleeding. I could hear my dad talking to Blaine, asking him questions, but Blaine wasn't answering. I thought he had passed out, but when Carole pressed a cold cloth to his face he hissed in pain and tried to pull away. It didn't feel real. I couldn't be sure at that point if this was all even actually happening. I mean, why would it be happening? There was no need for any of this.

I couldn't understand how this could have happened. I'd been with him only a few hours ago. We'd spent the day together at the mall, mostly just to take advantage of the air conditioning, and simply enjoying being able to spend a day together now that Blaine finally had a few days of from working at Six Flags, and when he walked me to my car just before three o'clock, he was fine. He'd kissed me goodbye, pressing me up against the side of my car in such a delicious public display of affection that he'd made me breathless. He then caressed my cheek, told me he'd call me tonight, and waved as I drove away. So what the hell had happened between then and now to cause this? I felt physically sick.

It wasn't until I felt my dad's gentle finger touch my cheek that I realised I was crying. Well, more sobbing, really. He looked so concerned, so scared...

"It'll be okay, Kurt. Blaine will be alright, okay? The ambulance will be here soon. He'll be fine." My dad was panicked, and to be honest, I wasn't sure who he was trying to convince with his words... me, or himself. I knew in that instant that his thoughts about the cause of this were the same as mine. This was what my dad feared every single day would happen to me, just because of who I was.

"Blaine, can you hear me?" My voice was thick, heavy with tears. I got no response. "Blaine," I said with more urgency, gripping his good arm and shaking him a little. He groaned. "Please Blaine, stay with me, okay. The ambulance is coming. You're going to be fine. I won't leave your side, I promise... just stay with me." He groaned again and leaned in closer to me, pressing his blood stained cheek against my shoulder... and then he passed out cold.

Finn ran outside when we heard the sirens approaching to guide the medics into the room, but he disappeared again.

My dad quickly ran through what we thought must have happened to the paramedics and pointed out Blaine's obvious injuries to them. They carefully fitted him with a spinal collar and moved him to the gurney on the floor. I was distracted by Finn's reappearance in the doorway. He held Blaine's car keys in his hand, his face shocked and amazed as he dangled them in the air in front of him for us to see. He looked from my dad and me to his Mom and back again, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Blaine's car is in our driveway. It's got the word 'fag' scratched into the paint work and there's blood all over the seats. The hood is dented and the windows are smashed. He must have driven himself here..." he pointed to my boyfriend on the floor with the paramedics hovering over him, "after they did this to him."

I shook my head in disbelief. Blaine couldn't even walk. I couldn't imagine for a moment how he had found the strength, or the focus, to drive. I watched closely as the two men worked over Blaine. They mumbled numbers to each other as they monitored his vital signs, fitting him with an oxygen mask and slipping a thin needle in under his skin to give him a shot of something. This was all so surreal. I shook my head to clear it, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the horrible scene before me.

"His parents," my dad said suddenly, searching the room quickly for where Carole had laid the phone. "I've gotta call his parents and let them know..."

"No Dad," I said quickly... and too loudly. My dad stopped and turned to look at me suspiciously. Damn it. I had wanted to avoid this conversation. Blaine had specifically asked me not to tell anyone, not even my dad, but I couldn't keep it from him now. He would have to know. "You can't. They..." I shot a desperate look at Blaine's unconscious form, hoping that he would forgive me for betraying his confidence. "They disowned him, Dad. He's boarding at Dalton now, permanently, because they kicked him out of home when he..." I sighed heavily, and looked back up to meet my dad's eyes. "When he told them about his relationship with me."

My dad gasped in shocked anger and stared at Blaine, pity filling his eyes. Dad knew that Blaine's father hadn't exactly been accepting of him being gay, but we had never told him just how bad things had been for Blaine at home since he had officially 'come out'. When he took me home to meet his parents only a few days after our first kiss, he was hoping that they would finally see how happy he was and accept him for who he was, but they both shut him out of their lives completely.

"They said they would pay for his tuition and board at Dalton because it was their duty as parents to see that he was properly educated, but as far as they were concerned, he was an embarrassment to his family and they no longer wanted to call him their son. They've even forbidden him from having contact with his brother and little sisters because he might be a bad influence on them. They won't care about this, Dad. They'll probably think he just got what he deserved."

My dad just stared at me and started to slowly shake his head in disbelief. "He's still only a kid." His voice was a shaky whisper. "Who is his legal guardian, then?"

I gave him a tight smile. "He is. He's now legally emancipated."

The elder of the two paramedics turned to face me as the younger guy continued to secure Blaine to the gurney. "This complicates things. The hospital will need someone to sign as an acting guardian..." My dad nodded immediately indicating that he would do it, but the medic held up his hand for pause as he continued, "...to give permission for this young man to have surgery as he's in no condition to make a decision for himself right now. But I have to warn you. If anyone decides to protest your guardianship, there could be legal ramifications."

My dad just nodded. "I don't care, I'll do it. Just do whatever you can to help him, alright?"

The medic nodded and turned back to Blaine, and the two medics lifted the gurney together up onto its legs, and quickly wheeled him out to the waiting ambulance. I ran alongside them, and after they had loaded him in, I climbed in beside them. I didn't even realise my dad had followed us out until I felt his hand touch my knee. I glanced down at him, trying my best to hold back the tears pooling in my eyes.

"We'll follow in the car, okay? We won't be far behind."

I nodded gratefully and patted his hand gently. "Thank you, Dad."

The younger medic closed the back doors, and moments later, climbed into the cab and started the engine. The lights and sirens horribly disturbed the quiet night around us as we sped down the street. I couldn't take my eyes off the beaten, bloody body beside me on the stretcher. I would never understand how someone's hate and ignorance could lead them to do something so horrible to such a sweet gentle soul as Blaine. He had done nothing wrong.

And yet, here he lay, pale and still and broken, presumably all because he dared to love.

I couldn't help it. I just gave in, lowered my head to my hands, and cried.

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To be continued...

BloodRedLust